Interesting, but it's nothing compared to a rock'n'roll tour. I've no detailed knowledge of what it's like now, but even 35 years ago we had five 40-foot trailers filled with gear, including 21 cannons and a 3 ton bronze bell, for a tour that did a different venue most nights. Only about 30 people in the tour party, though
It's amazing seeing a band with an enormous stage act -- most notably Rammstein -- packing up after a show.
The last time I saw them, it looked like half of the stage was already packed into cases within half an hour of the end of the show. News reports say they had 60 trucks of stuff, and 200 people to set it up and take it down again.
I'd assume they don't have anything as fragile or intrinsically valuable as an orchestra, but with each show bringing in €3-6M (sometimes more) the value to the tour is greater.
This kind of thing is also the origin of the 'no brown M&Ms' clause [1], after Van Halen's tours repeatedly ran into problems with venues that couldn't actually handle the band's electrical requirements or sometimes even literal flooring collapses from the physical weight of all the equipment.
I thought just about all bows are made from pernambuco (Brazil tree wood). The article seems to indicate there are travel restrictions with it. I recently bought one for my daughter, and they are not cheap, but they sound much better than carbon fiber.
The species is endangered [1], and trade of unfinished wood is restricted [2].
I strongly discourage buying anything made from endangered species -- most people in America or Europe wouldn't consider buying something made from an endangered animal, but don't consider plants in the same way.
There have been discussions about loosening restrictions on musical instruments using small amounts of endangered wood, where the majority of said wood is used in furniture etc (e.g. rosewood on guitar fretboards and furniture). I still discourage purchasing even that, but in this case the restriction[2] only mentions musical instruments, so that is presumably the majority use of this wood.
(These restrictions can change, so it's important to keep up-to-date. Instruments can be seized by customs otherwise.)
Indeed, and in a top-tier symphony orchestra like BSO, many (if not most) of the musicians will be playing one-of-a-kind handcrafted instruments that are hundreds of years old.
